Arrangement for mechanizing the assembling of trains in a train-assembling track of a marshalling yard



E. GARBERS July 13, 1965 ARRANGEMENT FOR MECHANIZING THE ASSEMBLING- OF TRAINS IN A TRAIN-ASSEMBLING TRACK OF A MARSHALLING YARD Filed 001;. 28, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS July 13, 1965 GARBERS 3,194,176

ARRANGEMENT FOR MECHANIZING THE ASSEMBLING OF TRAINS IN A TRAIN-ASSEMBLING TRACK OF A MARSHALLING YARD Filed 001;. 28, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /4/ 3% 3 FIG. 6;

a Q @y i l INVENTOR [If/V57 641F195? United States Patent 0 3,194,176 Fflli MECHANHZENG- THE AS= SEMBLENG this TRAINS IN A TRAHN=ASSEM- BLENG TRACK 0B A MARSHALMNG YitllD Ernst Garbers, 8 Walderseestrasse, Hamburg- Gthmarschen, Germany Filed Get. 28, 196i No. 65,683 Claims priority, application Germany, Apr. 27, 969, G 29,550; May H, was, G 2?,65d 6 Claims. (Ill. Edd-26) ARRANGEIWENT all, this gives rise to collisions leading to damage to cars and loads. Thus, to intercept the cars by putting the drag shoes on to the tracks is a dangerous job.

it has been attempted to bring the cars directly into their final positions by the use of retarders. However, as the resistance encountered by the rolling cars varies considerably because the temperature, wind and weight of load are always different, it is very difficult for the cars to reach their final positions.

Chain roads and drives are also known in which rollers engage behind the axles of the cars to be moved or arms adapted to be raised engage behind a buffer of such a car. All these installations require special pits between the tracks and can act upon the cars to be moved only along limited stretches of the tracks.

It is the object of the present invention to overcome the existing disadvantages and to provide an arrangement which ensures that the cars are collected without it being necessary to put drag shoes on to the tracks and without the occurrence of inadmissible collisions, in such a manner that they are ready for coupling together, so that the work in the marshalling yards is mechanized.

To achieve this object, the arrangement comprises endless driving means having a polling strand and a return strand and circulating adjacent one of the two rails of said track, a plurality of carriers distributed over a corresponding number of limited stretches of said track and successively operable by a travelling car, each of said carriers being arranged to be coupled to said pulling strand of said endless driving means for taking the car along within the respective stretch of track, and a fixed transverse stop arranged at the end of each stretch of track for uncoupling said respective carrier from said pulling strand of said driving means and coupling it to said return strand of said driving means for returning it into its initial position, the carrier following said respective carrier being coupled to the car to be shifted and said pulling strand of said driving means.

After the carrier has been coupled to the driving means which may be an endless cable, a spring-loaded transport arm pivotally mounted on the carrier and having a roller thereon is automatically raised and is engaged behind the rim of a wheel of a car being moved. Both strands of the endless driving means pass through the carriers. The carriers are arranged to move between a rail of the track and an additional guide rail in the individual stretches of the track and each carrier can be coupled alternately to the pulling strand or the return strand of the driving means.

Each carrier is constructed as a truck and guided with wheels between the rail feet and the rail heads facing each other or" the rail or" the track and the guide rail. For coupling the carrier to and uncoupling the carrier from the driving means, a joint comprising a wedge and an eccentric is provided for both the pulling strand and the return strand of the driving means. The eccentrics can be turned by means of a movable control rod of the carrier, this rod being controlled by means of a control lever of the carrier operable by the car being moved and also disengaging and raising the spring-loaded transport arm, and, also by means of the fixed transverse stop provided at the end of each stretch of track. The endless driving means have a driving motor which can be switched in by a contact arranged at a rail of the track in front of the stretches of the track. A circuit-closing rail contact is situated at a rail of the track at the beginning of each stretch of track and effects by means of a magnet the coupling of its associated carrier to the pulling strand. of the driving means.

Furthermore, an axle-counting rail contact is situated at a rail of the track at the beginning of each stretch of track. Each axle-counting rail contact is arranged within the circuit of the circuit-closing rail contact for the magnet of t e respective rearward stretch of track in such a mannerthat the magnet of the rearward stretch of track is only switched in when two axle-counting rail contacts adjoining each other in the direction of movement of the cars have counted the same number of axles of cars to be moved.

According to another feature of the invention the driving may be two endless cables, one strand of each cable being passed through the carriers. in this case the cable effecting the return of the carriers may circulate more rapidly than the advance cable.

The arrangement according to the invention is built up on the top of the normal roadbed. It is outside the confines of the railroad vehicles, so that the tracks are free for unobstructed travel by locomotives and cars after the driving means have been switched oil.

Two preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a track;

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the rail contacts;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a rail of the track and the guide rail, showing the position of the carrier;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the carrier without cable joints, partly in section;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the carrier, partly in section, and A PEG. 6 is a top plan view of another embodiment of the driving means.

With reference now to FIG. 1, a train assembling tracl with rails 1 and 2 is subdivided e.g. into 20 stretches. A guide rail 3 is located adjacent the rail 2. Between the rail 2 and the guide rail 3 a carrier 4 is arranged to run within each stretch of track. Each stretch of track has a circuit-closing rail contact 5, an axle-counting rail conale give tact 6 and a magnet '7. Between the rail 2; and the guide rail 3 an endless cable is arranged to circulate. This cable has a pulling strand 9 and a return strand 9 and can be driven by a driving motor 8. Each carrier 4 is adapted to be coupled to this cable so as to travel within its stretch of track from the magnet '7 to a fixed transverse stop ll) interconnecting the rail 2 and the guide rail 3, and again back to the magnet.

When a car runs into the track, one of its wheels closes a switch 11 (see FIG. 2 also) which is located adjacent the rail 1 and switches in the driving motor 3 for the endless cable. The car wheel actuates the switch 11 and the motor 8 is kept running by a timing relay 13. This timing relay is a known time switch which after being energized is released only after a certain readjustable time. The car wheel then closes a first circuit-closing rail switch located adjacent the rail 1, thereby switching in an electromagnet 7 which couples a carrier 4 to the pulling strand 9 of the endless cable in the first stretch of track. The eleotro-rnagnet 7 actuates a control lever 12 (FIG. 3) of the carrier 4- by causing the armature 29 to move downwardly, thereby effecting the coupling of the carrier to the cable by means of clamping as explained in detail hereinafter.

At the end of the first stretch of track the carrier 4 is uncoupled from the pulling strand 9 coupled to the return strand 9 as described hereinafter, by means of the stop It), whereupon it returns into its initial position.

The travelling car successively rolls into the following stretches of the track and is transported in each stretch of track in a similar manner. The car continues to roll until it arrives at a stretch having, for example, an axlecounting rail contact 6 over which an additional pair of axles have already run. This means that one or two axles have stopped in the stretch of track between the axlecounting rail contacts 6 and that 6 and that this stretch is already occupied. The electromagnet 7 cannot be energized, as from the source 50, in this case in spite of the switching-in of a circuit-closing rail contact 5 because a different number of axles have run over the two neighboring axle-counting rail contacts 6 and 6 and the circuit to the magnet is broken. A carrier 4 is not coupled to the cable in this case and the car continues to roll freewheeling over the last few feet until it abuts against the car or cars already stopped.

The counting function is evident from the circuit diagram of FIG. 2. Only the means of the axle-counting rail switches 6' to 6 are not specified since these means per tain to the state of the art especially in the field of telephones. These means are framed by dash lines and are concerned with selectors with contact banks. 6' and 6 each have one contact bank with slider. The other selectors each have two contact banks with one slider for each contact bank. The contacts of two neighboring contact banks are always connected together (brackets with a line in 6' and 6 The circuit of the circuit-closing rail switch 5 is connected to ground via the magnet 7', the slider and the contact bank of 6' and the contact bank and the slider of 6 After the switching of 5' the circuit is closed only when the sliders of both contact banks are on the same contacts, i.e., the same number of car axles must have passed over the axle-counting rail switches 6' and 6 If more axles have passed over 6' than over 6 the magnet 7 7 does not switch. All the other axle-counting rail switches 6 -6 are constructed in the same manner.

Each magnet 7 couples a carrier 4 to the cable by the fact that the toggle lever 29 (FIG. 3) acting as an armature of the magnet 7 strikes against the lever 12 and moves this lever downwardly by turning it about the pivot 17. The lever 12 then releases the hook 21 of the lever 19 from its lock pawl 20 so that the lever 19 can spring upwardly. Simultaneously the lever 12 has pushed through its cam 26 the rod 39 out of the carrier 4, whereby through the stud 31 the eccentric 32 couples the pulling strand 9 of the endless cable through the wedge 33 to the carrier. The carrier 4 then moves with the cable and since the lever 19 has been turned upwardly in the meantime, the roller 24 engages behind the rim face of the car wheel.

Every axle counting device facing the direction from which the car comes will have a higher count than a device over which the car being counted has not passed. This becomes clear from the circuitry in FIG. 2 since the contacts of the contact banks of the selectors do not coincicle if the same number of axles has not passed over the neighboring switches a. The sliders of the selectors are not on the same contacts of the contact bank so that the circuit to the magnet '7 is broken when varying numbers of axles have passed over the individual switches 6. If two cars have passed over the switch 6', the slider of the appertaining device has counted four axles (in the case of bi-axial cars) and has moved into the position 4. If only one car has passed over the switch 6 the slider thereof is in the position 2 of its contact bank, corresponding to two axles.

As shown in FIG. 2, the axle-counting rail contacts 6 are connected with known stepping mechanisms, selectors or the like. A first axle-counting rail contact 6 and a last axle-counting rail contact 6 have selectors with only one contact bank, whereas all the other selectors have two contact banks.

As also shown in FIG. 2, an adjustable timing relay 13 can be provided in the circuit of the driving motor 8.

When no cars are travelling, but to remove snow from between the rail 2 and the guide rail 3, the magnets 7 to 7 can successively be switched in by means of a control relay 14-. This causes the carriers 4 to 4 to move to and fro idling in continuous succession.

The successive and continuous movement of the can riers for removing snow is explained in FIG. 2 on the lefthand side thereof. The control relay 14 has a slider and a contact bank. One magnet 7 is connected with each contact of this contact bank. If current flows through the slider and the contact shown in the drawing, the magnet '7' is energized. If current flows through the slider and the second contact, the magnet 7 is energized and so forth. This is on the supposition that the motor 8 has been switched in to drive the cable.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the carriers 4 having wheels 15 are arranged to travel between rail feet 28 and rail heads 27 facing each other of the rail 2 and the guide rail 3. The endless cable with its two strands 9 and 9 passes through bores 16 of the carriers 4.

A stretch of track of the arrangement according to the invention operates as follows: The rim of a wheel of the first car axle entering the arrangement switched in presses the circuit-closing rail switch 5 and thereby switches in the magnet 7 which depresses through the intermediary of a lever 22 the control lever 12 of the carrier 4 pivotally mounted at 17 (FIG. 4). This causes, as shown in FIG. 4, a transport arm 19 provided with a hook 21 and swingable about a pivot 18 to be disengaged with its hook from a lock pawl 26 of the control lever 12 and raised by means of a spring 23 secured to the carrier on a pin 22. The transport arm 19 engages with a roller 24 behind a rim 25 of a wheel of the car to be conveyed. The transport arm has also a steering rod 38 provided at its free end with a steering 37.

The roller 24 engages behind the rim of the .car wheel which in the drawing runs from the left to the right just as the carrier 4. The lever 19 turns about 18 and slides in a guide by means of the steering rod 38 having a steering 37. It can move into the carrier and engage with its hook 21 into the lock pawl 20.

Succeeding wheel rims depress the lever 19 through the roller 24 completely into the carrier until it is engaged.

On depressing the control lever 12, a control rod 30 is pushed out of the carrier 4 by means of a cam 26 of the control lever 12. Thereby, as can be seen from FIG. 5. a

first eccentric 32 is turned with the aid of a stud 31, and, as a result, a wedge 33 is pressed against the pulling strand 9 of the endless cable and tightened between the same and the eccentric. The carrier 4 is thus firmly coupled to the pulling strand 9 and transports the car at the speed of the circulating cable by means of the raised transport arm 19 engaging behind the rim of a wheel of the car.

At the end of the stretch of track the carrier 4 runs against the fixed transverse stop It), the control rod 30 projecting from the carrier being pushed back thereinto. This causes the coupling of the wedge 33 tothe pulling strand 9 to be disengaged by means of the stud 31 and the eccentric 32. At the same time, a second eccentric 35 is turned with the aid of a stud 34, which eccentric presses a wedge 36 against the return strand 9 of the endless cable. The carrier 4 is thus firmly coupled to the return strand 9 and travels back.

The weight of the transport arm 19 and the tension of the spring 23 required for raising the transport arm are so determined that when the direction of movement of the carrier 4 is reversed, the transport arm 19 returns into its position of rest due to the mass acceleration and is locked with its hook 21 by the lock pawl 20. If required, the transport arm 19 is run over, depressed and locked by the following axle. The control lever 12 abuts against the lever 29 of the magnet to disengage the coupling of the return strand with the carrier. By this abutting against the lever 29, the rod 39 is slightly shifted and turns through the stud 34 the eccentric 35 to disengage the wedge 36.

i The control lever 12 is then in a mid-position in which the endless cable runs with both strands through the stationary carrier. When the control rod 39 is pushed back into the carrier 4, the control lever 12 is again raised by means of the cam 26. As soon as the carrier 4 on travelling back abuts with its control lever 12 against the lever 29 of the magnet 7, the control lever 12 is pressed into its central position with the result that the control rod 30 is. again pushed out of the carrier 4 to such an extent that the second eccentric 35 is turned by means of the stud 34, thereby disengaging the coupling of the wedge 36 from the return strand of the endless cable. The carrier runs against a brake spring (not shown) located at the rail foot 28 and comes to rest under the lever 29, where it is ready for the next action while the endless cable continues to circulate.

FIG. 6 shows two endless cables 39 and 40 arranged to be driven by motors 41 and 42, respectively, the numbers of revolutions of which are regulatable independently of each other, one strand of each cable passing through the carriers 4. In this case the cable serving for returning the carriers can be driven more rapidly than the advance cable.

I claim:

1. An arrangement for automatically assembling railroad trains in a train-assembling track of a railroad marshalling yard; said arrangement comprising railroad car driving means for moving individual cars over a prescribed length of track; said driving means comprising an endless power transmission means extending over several of said sections of track and having a pulling strand and a return strand; said endless transmission means lying adjacent one of the two rails of said sections of track; each of said sections of track being of the length of one of said cars being assembled; power source means for driving said endless power transmission means; a plurality of carriers distributedsubstantially uniformly over said sections of track; a guide rail adjacent said one rail of said sections of track; said carriers being supported for movement between said one rail and said guide rail; each of said carriers including a spring-loaded transport arm pivotally mounted thereon; trip means mounted on each section of said .trackway for releasing said pivoted arm upon the passage of a railroad car wheel; means causing said released arm to rise and to engage the recently passed wheel;

reversibly operable means mounted on each of said carriers to selectively lock said carrier to said pulling strand and to said return strand; said trip means also operating said reversibly operable means to lock said carrier to said pulling strand when said means is actuated; spaced means situated at each of said track sections for causing said reversibly operable means to reverse, releasing said pulling strand and locking said carrier to said return strand; and means for rendering said power source means operable for a preselected period of time after the passage of a railroad car into the first of said sections of track, said sections of track being so arranged that a carrier and the trip and spaced means are each located in each section of track so that the carrier of the first section of track moves a railroad car until it is released from its pulling strand by said spaced means and the carrier at the next adjacent section of track moves the same railroad car over its section of track, a single railroad car being moved into its final position by several of said carriers in succession.

2. Arrangement asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the carriers are constructed as trucks having wheels, said guide rail being situated adjacent said one rail of the track and having a rail foot and a rail head, said trucks being guided with said wheels between said rail foot and said rail head of said guide railand the rail foot and the rail head of said one rail of the track facing them, said reversibly operable means including a coupling comprising a Wedge and an eccentric for each strand of the driving means to couple the carriers to and uncouple the carriers from the driving means, a shiftable control rod of each carrier arranged to turn said eccentrics alternately, latch means for latching said transport arm into a position ineffective to engage the wheel of railroad car to be moved, said transport arm of each carrier being operable by the car being moved to be moved into said ineifective position, said control rod being controllable by said latch means and by :a fixed stop arranged at the remote end of each railroad car position on said stretch of track.

3. Arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the weight of the transport arm and the tension of the spring acting upon the transport arm and required for raising the transport arm are so determined that the transport arm returns into its position of rest and can be locked when the carrier travels back.

4. Arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said power source means comprises a motor, a switch contact situated at a rail of the track, said contact being arranged to switch in said driving motor, a circuit-closing rail contact arranged at a rail of the track at the beginning of each of said sections of track and a magnet provided for each circuit-closing rail contact, said circuit-closing rail contact being arranged to couple its associated carrier to the pulling strand by said magnet, said magnet operating said reversibly operable means.

5. Arrangement as claimed in claim 4, wherein an axlecounting rail contact is situated at a rail of the track at the beginning of each section of track, each axle-counting rail contact being arranged within the circuit of the circuit-closing rail contact for the magnet of the respective preceding section of track in such a manner that the ma net of the preceding section of track is only switched in when two axle-counting rail contacts adjoining each other in the direction of movement of the cars have counted the same number of axles of cars to be moved so that the presence of a car on one section of track prevents the moving of another car onto that section of track.

6. Arrangement as claimed in claim 4, further including a control relay arranged to switch in the magnets of the individual sections of the track successively in continuous order to cause the carriers to move idling to and fro between said one rail of the track and a guide rail situated adjacent thereto, for the removal of snow.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Moore 104-212 Dunton 104212 5 Haines 10426 Rutherfood 104-176 Prescott 1044-26 Brown 246-77 Doehler 246-182 Doehler 246--182 Grossmith 104-472 5 2,767,662 10/56 Howard H 104-176 2,847,562 8/ 5 8 Marquardt 24677 3,028,819 4/62 Brosnan 104176 FOREIGN PATENTS 550,529 1/ 43 Great Britain.

644,717 5/37 Germany.

663,039 3/29 France.

EUGENE G. BOTZ, Primary Examiner.

LEO J. LEONNIG, LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiners. 

1. AN ARRANGEMENT FOR AUTOMATICALLY ASSEMBLING RAILROAD TRAINS IN A TRAIN-ASSEMBLING TRACK OF A RAILROAD MARSHALLING YARF; SAID ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING RAILROAD CAR DRIVING MEANS FOR MOVING INDIVIDUAL CARS OVER A PRESCRIBED LENGTH OF TRACK; SAID DRIVING MEANS COMPRISING AN ENDLESS POWER TRANSMISSION MEANS EXTENDING OVER SEVERAL OF SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK AND HAVING A PULLING STRAND AND A RETURN STRAND; SAID ENDLESS TRANSMISSION MEANS LYING ADJACENT ONE OF THE TWO RAILS OF SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK; EACH OF SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK BEING OF THE LENGH OF ONE OF SAID CARS BEING ASSEMBLED; POWER SOURCE MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID ENDLESS POWER TRANSMISSION MEANS; A PLURALITY OF CARRIERS DISTRIBUTED SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY OVER SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK; A GUIDE RAIL ADJACENT SAID ONE RAIL OF SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK; SAID CARRIERS BEING SUPPORTED FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN SAID ONE RAIL AND SAID GUIDE RAIL; EACH OF SAID CARRIERS INCLUDING A SPRING-LOADED TRANSPORT ARM PIVOTALLY MOUNTED THEREON; TRIP MEANS MOUNTED ON EACH SECTION OF SAID TRACKWAY FOR RELEASING SAID PIVOTED ARM UPON THE PASSAGE OF A RAILROAD CAR WHEEL; MEANS CAUSING SAID RELEASED ARM TO RISE AND TO ENGAGE THE RECENTLY PASSED WHEEL; REVERSIBLY OPERABLE MEANS MOUNTED ON EACH OF SAID CARRIERS TO SELECTIVELY LOCK SAID CARRIER TO SAID PULLING STRAND AND TO SAID RETURN STRAND; SAID TRIP MEANS ALSO OPERATING SAID REVERSIBLY OPERABLE MEANS TO LOCK SAID CARRIER TO SAID PULLING STRAND WHEN SAID MEANS IS ACTUATED; SPACED MEANS SITUATED AT EACH OF SAID TRACK SECTIONS FOR CAUSING SAID REVERSIBLY OPERABLE MEANS TO REVERSE, RELEASING SAID PULLING STRAND AND LOCKING SAID CARRIER TO SAID RETURN STRAND; AND MEANS FOR RENDERING SAID POWER SOURCE MEANS OPERABLE FOR A PRESELECTED PERIOD OF TIME AFTER THE PASSAGE OF A RAILROAD CAR INTO THE FIRST OF SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK, SAID SECTIONS OF TRACK BEING SO ARRANGED THAT A CARRIER AND THE TRIP AND SPACED MEANS ARE EACH LOCATED IN EACH SECTION OF TRACK SO THAT THE CARRIER OF THE FIRST SECTION OF TRACK MOVES A RAILROAD CAR UNTIL IT IS RELEASED FROM ITS PULLING STRAND BY SAID SPACED MEANS AND THE CARRIER AT THE NEXT ADJACENT SECTION OF TRACK MOVES THE SAME RAILROAD CAR OVER ITS SECTION OF TRACK, A SINGLE RAILROAD CAR BEING MOVED INTO ITS FINAL POSITION BY SEVERAL OF SAID CARRIERS IN SUCCESSION. 